I was trying to write Monday evening when little gray paws appeared on the edge of my chair. Oliver was purring as he climbed onto the chair.
My MacBook was in my lap and I was hard at work. But Oliver started kneading his paws up and down on my belly as he tried to wedge himself into a space that was already full. He wanted attention.
And what was more important to me? Some work that could wait a few more minutes or some quality time with a purring cat who loves me?
I put the MacBook onto the nearby bed and let Oliver take over my lap. He draped himself over me and looked up expectantly. He wanted me to rub him and he made that clear. When I complied with his wishes, the purring got louder.
As I sat here letting a warm gray bundle of fur dictate my schedule for a few minutes, it occurred to me that this wasn’t the most efficient use of my time — but it was important to both of us in ways that are hard to explain.
We spend so much of our lives asking whether something is productive that we sometimes forget to ask whether it’s meaningful.

Why do we stay in prison when there’s no lock holding us there?
Society needs storytellers to help make sense of a changing world
Forget your partner’s best traits; worst traits predict your future
My books are time machines that tell you where (and who) I’ve been
Free phone wasn’t worth keeping,
Time is the most unrelenting enemy that any of us will face
Conflicting expectations can kill even the deepest love and hope
Why not join the LP? You can’t fight the state by becoming the state
Everything sounded fair at the time, so why’d I end up paying for it all?